10/23- Nittany Nation Report- Ohio State Week

10/23- Nittany Nation Report- Ohio State Week

<br>Nittany Nation Report- Bill O'Brien talks about playing Ohio State in his weekly press conference.

Coach Bill O'Brien Teleconference

October 23, 2012

Q. What did you do to gain the players'
trust after you were hired, and how long did it take for them to buy into
everything?

COACH O'BRIEN: Well, I think it has a lot to do with the
staff. I don't think it was just me, obviously. I believe that one of the
first things that I tried to do was put together the best staff that I could,
and I think we did that, including Fitzy (Craig Fitzgerald) and Timmy Bream, we
brought in guys that had coached at different levels and guys that were honest
guys; guys that have been through some tough situations in their
careers.

Because we knew it wasn't going to be easy. And they came in
and they bought into what I wanted to do, and then we translated that to the
players.

I can't say enough about these players. These guys are --
the guys that stuck with us. They're tough kids. They're smart. You just have
to always tell them the truth. And as long as you do that, whether it's
something that maybe they don't always want to hear or it's a positive
reinforcement, these guys really appreciate that. So that's just really what we
try to do every day.

Q. In the win over Iowa, you were able to play a lot of
guys. But you couldn't get Steven Bench in the game. I know you're a
one-quarterback guy, I wonder if you wish you could have played him a little
more in the season or are you going to seek a redshirt for him this
year?

COACH O'BRIEN: In the Iowa game, I guess you can disagree
with me, I don't really care, I felt the game was not really in hand like
everybody else thought. I felt like Iowa was still in the game. Maybe I could
have gotten Steven in.

But I think Steven realizes that we're trying to win the
football game, do what's best for the football team at that point in time. So I
stuck with Matt (McGloin) throughout the whole game. And if we have a chance to
put Steven in at some point during the year, then we'll do it.

But at the end of the day we're going to do what's best for
the football team and trying to win the football game.

Q. Bill, did you have a chance to see the size of the
campout over at Gate A yet and what does that say that they're already on a
Monday night or a Tuesday morning?

COACH O'BRIEN: I'll tell you what, I can't say enough about
our student body. I've been over there before, I think it was the Northwestern
game, and obviously there's more kids there now.

I mean that's just what this place is all about. Student
body that works hard in the classroom, supports their football team and all
their athletic teams. It's unbelievable.

People were right when I first came here, they told me you
haven't seen anything until you run out for a game or you witness the support of
the student body.

And they're exactly right. This is a special place. And one
of the reasons why it's a special place is because of the support of the student
body.

It gives our players a ton of energy, and on Saturday we just
want them here early. We want them to wear white. And we want them to be
respectful but very, very loud throughout the whole game.

Q. During the Caravan, you called Ohio State, Penn State's
biggest rival. What did you come to learn about this game in your time at Penn
State?

COACH O'BRIEN: I don't remember exactly saying that during
the Caravan but if you say I said it, then I probably said it.

I think every game we play is a very important game here at
Penn State. You know, and I would say that for every team. I remember back in
New England, Bill (Belichick) would always talk to us all the time about you
only play once a week. So you practice for five days, and then you lay it on
the line Saturday.

And this year we only get the chance to lay it on the line 12
times; 12 Saturdays. So every game for us is a very, very big game. The Big
Ten is just, in my opinion, a tremendous conference that has great head coaches
and tough teams.

And we're playing probably the best team in the Big Ten this
week, with a great head coach in Urban Meyer. A very well-coached team and
we're just going to do the best we can in practice this week and try to make
sure that we play a good game on Saturday night.

Q. Last couple of games you guys gave up a punt return for
a touchdown and a kickoff return for a touchdown. When those kind of things pop
up in the middle of the year, how hard is it to handle that or fix that, and how
are you going about that?

COACH O'BRIEN: Yeah, that wasn't very good football. I
believe that we're better than that. I think in the Iowa game we somewhat
relaxed on that play, and we've spent a lot of time over the past day and a half
correcting that.

And our players on the "Hit" squad, the kickoff team, they've
done a really good job all year. They really have, except for that instance
right there.

So hopefully they'll rebound with a better effort, because
they need to. Ohio State's kickoff return team is very, very good and
explosive. I think they're second or third in the Big Ten in kickoff returns.
Got a big...they're very good.

And then with the punt return against Northwestern, we needed
to tackle better. We needed to take better angles. We needed to punt the ball
better. We've continued to work on that.

So we're working extremely hard to get those things fixed.

Q. Your tight ends played very well against Iowa. Are you
pleased with the way everyone at that position has taken to your offense as the
year has gone on and what more do you expect as the season continues and they
get more experience on the offense?

COACH O'BRIEN: I believe that position, just like all the
positions on the football team, all the coaches on the team have improved,
including myself, have improved every week. That's what we try to do. We try
to get better every single week. And those guys, those four guys have improved
every week. And that's what we're trying to do as coaches. That's what we're
trying to do as players. And if we can continue to do that, then hopefully good
things will happen and the tight end position is a great example of just trying
to get better every week.

Q. Urban Meyer in his press conference yesterday talked a
lot about how talented you guys are and how you have some, some future NFL
players on your team. And I guess he's trying to be the underdog a little bit,
make sure he's the underdog a little bit. But is it possible that in all the
talk of what your guys have had to overcome and overachieve and so forth that
maybe your guys are a little underrated athletically in terms of talent?

COACH O'BRIEN: Let me say, first of all, that obviously I
have a lot of respect for Coach Meyer and what he's done in his coaching career
and what he's doing at Ohio State. I can tell you Ohio State is the most
talented team we've played to this point in the season. They're an excellent
football team.

They're 8-0. And they have very, very good players at every
position. As far as our own team, I do believe that we have some guys that we
think can play on Sundays. Having experience in the NFL, I have an idea what
I'm talking about there. And I do believe there are some guys that can play in
the NFL.

And I've said that every week that I believe that our
players, especially the last five weeks, have played well. It's not about
coaching.

Coaching has something to do with it, but at the end of the
day it's about the players going out there and playing well. If you don't have
good players, you're not going to win. It's about good players.

So it's about recruiting, continuing to recruit good players,
because that's what we have here right now. So I do think we have some guys
that can play on Sundays. And I think Ohio State does, too.

Q. A lot of the talk about Ohio State the last few weeks
has been centered around some of the injuries that have affected their
linebackers. They're playing a true freshman kid over there; they have a
fullback there, too. What do you notice from that group on film, and have you
seen some of those guys that had to step in and improving over the past few
weeks?

COACH O'BRIEN: I know they've had some injuries over there,
but I can tell you that even with the injuries, it doesn't really matter. It's
just a matter of reloading. They have very good players. (Ryan) Shazier is an
excellent player; active, instinctive player. (Storm) Klein and (Zach) Boren
are good Mike linebackers. Josh Perry is the freshman playing one of the
outside linebacker positions and is a very good player. Up front, everybody
knows John Simon. I think he was All-American last year; All-Big Ten.
(Johnathan) Hankins on the inside and (Garrett) Goebel, (Nathan)
Williams.

In the secondary I think they're very physical -- (Bradley)
Roby, (Christian) Bryant, (C.J.) Barnett, (Travis) Howard. This is a good
football team. So this is a big, big challenge for us as a football team, and
we've got to have a great week of practice and we've got to come in here ready
to play. We can't turn it over. We can't commit stupid penalties. We've got
to play well on special teams because the first mistake you make you're not
going to have a very good chance to win the game.

Q. In regard to Mike Farrell, is it difficult to
appreciate if you're not a coach or a player how difficult it is to play both
tackle spots during the course of the game, and through the first seven games
has he maybe been the most unsung guy on the team?

COACH O'BRIEN: Mike Farrell is one of those guys that I talk
about a lot, like a lot of these guys, especially in this senior class. When I
took the job here, it's just really a lot of fun to coach guys like this,
because they're very bright guys. Mike is a very smart guy; works extremely
hard. Mike, in spring practice, he had an okay spring practice. He and I both
sat down after spring practice, and he and I knew he could play better. And I
told him that over the summer I wanted him to have a great summer, concentrate
on football. Maybe take some things off his plate a little bit and put
everything he had into football. Because I felt like he could have a future in
football.

And he did that. And he met it head on this summer and he
came back in great shape, and he's athletic, and he's big and tough and he can
play both sides.

So it is a luxury to have a guy that can swing, you call him
a "swing tackle," a guy that can go and play right tackle and left tackle, and
it's just like a lot of guys in the senior class, and I'm very -- like I've
always said, I'm very proud to be their coach.

Q. You've faced some running quarterbacks this year. Has
anybody been kind of close to what Braxton Miller brings, and how do you prepare
for him?

COACH O'BRIEN: He's the best -- and with all due respect to
all the others -- because there's some good ones there, too, believe me, but
this guy's an excellent player.

The thing about him is he throws the ball well, too. He can
drop back and throw it. He can make a play with his feet. The read option is a
huge threat.

And all we can do -- one of the keys to the game is to do the
best we can to contain him and tackle him. At the end of the day he's going to
make plays. And when he makes a play, we have to play the next play. We have
to keep him out of the end zone the best we can. And we've got to make sure
that we know, look, the guy's going to make some plays, let's make sure we limit
that and get ready to not dwell on the big play that he just made and try to
play the next play. So this is an excellent player who has had a heck of a
season.

Q. One of the biggest improvements in the five-game
winning streak is third down defense. What can you attribute that to, did you
change anything in practice?

COACH O'BRIEN: After the Ohio game, especially in the
Virginia game, both sides of the ball. We knew that we had to improve on third
down, whether it was on offense or defense. So we did just put a bigger
emphasis on understanding the yardage needed. We call it the sticks, seeing the
sticks and making sure you understand what the team needs, understand the scheme
that you're in.

We made a bigger emphasis probably during the week of
watching more third down tape cutups and making sure that guys -- and along with
the red area, too, because we had to improve in the red area on both sides of
the ball, too.

So I think at the end of the day it's about emphasis, and
that's really what we tried to do is maybe just emphasize it a little bit
more.

Q. I know it's 12 one-game seasons, but they've been one
of the flagships in the league. Can you put in perspective what this game means
to your program at this point and whether it has any recruiting
implications?

COACH O'BRIEN: Well, I think you're right, like you said,
it's 12 one-game seasons. And this is a big game. For me to sit up here and
say it's not a big game, that's crazy. This is Ohio State, a great tradition,
great players, great head coach, great coaching staff.

So, it's a big game. At the end of the day recruiting is
about the fit; what's the fit? And there's differences between Ohio State and
Penn State. The setting of the school. The coaching staffs, you know there's
differences, just like there is with any school. And every school's great in my
opinion.

We don't go out there and do anything but talk about Penn
State when we recruit. So recruiting at the end of the day to me is more about
a fit. And it's not all about just winning the game and that's how you're going
to beat them in recruiting. To me that's not really what it's all about.

But as far as playing football goes, this is a great college
football game in what will be a great college football atmosphere against a team
that has the same type of tradition and history as Penn State. So to me that's
what college football is all about, the game itself.

Q. Following up on Mark's question a little bit about
Braxton Miller. Can you talk about the pressure he'll put on your defensive
ends to try to keep them contained in how you deal with that?

COACH O'BRIEN: Yeah, that's very difficult. Very, very
difficult. You have to do the best you can in practice to try to give them a
picture of that, which obviously the picture in practice won't be anything like
what it is on Saturday night. But at least you try to give them a
picture.

In many ways your defensive ends -- defensive tackles, they
have to be very disciplined in how they rush the passer, whether it's four-man
rush or five-man rush or twist or whatever it is, they have to be very, very
disciplined in how they rush the passer.

And if they can do that, they have a chance. But, again, at
the end of the day this guy's going to make plays. And we're not going to shut
this guy down totally. This is an excellent football player, and we just have
to make sure that we show up and do the best we can on Saturday
night.

Q. Some of your guys over at Twitter are wishing you a
Happy Birthday. Any special plans today?

COACH O'BRIEN: Actually, I don't know, I'm not a big
birthday guy. I'm not -- my wife will list all the things I really don't enjoy:
Birthdays, weddings, theme parks, the beach. Not a big beach guy even though I
love Cape Cod but it's really at 5:00 at night.

But no, I found out it was my birthday when my older brother
texted me. He said: "Happy Birthday." And that's when I figured it was my
birthday. But, thank you; there's no special plans.

Q. One of the things I've heard a lot from your players
over the streak is how much fun they're having, simply how much fun they're
having. After what they went through in the off-season, I guess how important
was it to sort of instill that attitude again with these guys, simply having fun
on the football field?

COACH O'BRIEN: Winning is fun. And so winning, like we said
a lot of times, winning cures a lot of ills. And it's fun to win. That locker
room, after some of these wins, it's been some of the most memorable post-game
locker rooms in my career. I've been in AFC Championship winning locker rooms,
that says a lot. What we try to do -- football, especially as you get into
midseason, can be practice, drudgery.

So you try to change it up a little bit and make football
practice competitive and maybe blast the music a little bit and do some things
to do the best you can to make it fun but at the same time get your work done.

So hopefully we've done a good job of that. And I'd say
this, too. It's been a lot of fun coaching this team. Like I say, no matter
what happens, this is a great group of kids that come to practice every day.
It's been fun to go out to practice every day.

Q. Urban Meyer said yesterday that Beaver Stadium, he was
told by his other coaches it was the loudest stadium in the Big Ten. And you
were saying earlier how it was a special place to play. Can you talk about the
atmosphere for Saturday night how important it is for fans lined up already for
Saturday?

COACH O'BRIEN: This is without a doubt the best college
football environment in the country. There's just absolutely no doubt about
it. And obviously I'm very biased. But having been here now for a certain
amount of home games and watching that student body and listening to our fans
and knowing that there's 108,000 people going to be here Saturday night, I mean,
this place is going to be loud. And everybody's going to be wearing white. And
the other thing about our fans, which I like, is they're very respectful, I
think. They're loud. They cheer for their team. But that's what needs to
continue here. They need to be very respectful because this is an excellent
Ohio State team coming in here.

And our team just really wants them to show up early, be in
there for warm-ups. It really gets our guys jazzed up in there when they're in
there are for warm-ups. Our guys, they love that.

If we can get them out of the tailgating maybe early and get
them in the stadium early, get 108,000 in there for warm-ups, that would be
pretty neat. That would be pretty neat. So it's a very special environment.
It meant a lot to us in the Northwestern game and I'm really looking forward to
leading the team out there on Saturday night.

Q. As a first-year head coach, did you think that you
might have a little bit of element of surprise on some of these teams that you
hadn't played, and now that we're halfway through the season, do you think that
some teams maybe have some film on you and might be able to figure some things
out as opposed to that element of surprise?

COACH O'BRIEN: Sure, anytime you have a new coaching staff
where, "what film do you watch? Do you watch New England film? Do you watch
Auburn film? Do you watch South Carolina film?" Yeah, I'm sure there's some of
that as an opposing -- I've been on those type of staffs where you have to try
to figure out who is, where they're coming from, and that's not easy. So, yeah,
there's probably some of that. But I don't think at the end of the day we do
anything that's really that complicated, I really don't. I think we just try to
play hard and compete.

And I'm sure guys figured stuff out right after the Ohio
game. And we just need to keep competing and playing hard and not turning it
over, don't commit penalties, do the best you can on special teams and hopefully
we can continue to play well.

Q. With the NASCAR offense, how tough is it for you to
have to come up with a play in such a short period of time after you've run the
previous play and what are some of the factors that go through your head when
you're evaluating what play you need to call?

COACH O'BRIEN: Well, number one is you try to, you do get
into a certain rhythm. So one of the things that any coach will tell you that
runs that type of up-tempo offense is first down is really important.

Because if you can gain positive yards on first down, then
your second and medium call or second and short call, you can call it whatever
you want. That's a play caller's dream. That's really the most important
thing.

Because once you get a good gain on first down, then you're
right away into a play-calling rhythm. And after that, for anybody that's
called plays, that's really what it's all about, and it's not that difficult.
But as far as what I'm looking for and all those things, I mean I'm not telling
you (laughter).

Q. What do you think the guys who left the program are
missing out on, and what do you think guys considering leaving the program are
going to miss out on in the future?

COACH O'BRIEN: I think it's a fair question. I really do.
But I'm just here to talk about our football team and playing Ohio State and
again I've really enjoyed coaching these kids that stuck with us, and it's a
great group of guys.

It's a group of guys that have obviously been through a lot
but have played extremely hard and are reaping some of the rewards of all the
hard work that they've put in to playing here at Penn State.

And at the end of the day, like I always say, I think this is
a very special place to play college football because you can earn a phenomenal
world-renowned degree, and choose from 100-plus different majors, and your
degree can take you anywhere in the world and any occupation, any graduate
school, and then on top of that, you get to play football in front of 108,000
fans on national TV every week.

So to me it's a very special place to play
football.

Q. On the flip side of that question. For the kids that
did stay -- and after the way you started this year, 0-2 - does it make you feel
good they'll have the opportunity that they'll have on Saturday night in front
of all these fans to play an undefeated Ohio State team?

COACH O'BRIEN: I would definitely say that these guys have
earned the right to play in this type of game. They've put a lot of time in.
They've been through a lot. They've done it. Everything that we've asked them
to do, they've done.

Be on time. Practice hard. Lift hard. Run hard. Compete.
They've done it. And so they've definitely earned the right to play in this
type of a game in front of 108,000 fans, and I really -- you know, I obviously
expect 108,000 fans there, and I think our fans will be very, very supportive of
our team on Saturday night.

Q. Can you describe kind of the evolution of this NASCAR
offense and where it might be headed? Is the end goal to have it, to use it
every time the clock's not stopped?

COACH O'BRIEN: Well, I was just saying to the staff earlier,
sometimes I have some deja vu moments where I'm sitting there and we're game
planning and I think about, well, I remember in 2000 at Georgia Tech we did
things with George Godsey, our quarterback, that are similar to this.

I can tell you when I worked for Mark Whipple at Brown we ran
a no huddle. When I worked for George O'Leary at Georgia Tech, we did this.
When I worked for Ralph Friedgen, the offensive coordinator at Georgia Tech, we
ran a wishbone no huddle. That was awesome. We were in a wishbone no huddle.
If you know anything about football, that was pretty cool.

We've been doing this for a while. None of us invented it.
I mean if you want to say who invented it you'd have to go all the way back to
Paul Brown. He invented the shotgun and no huddle and two-minute offense.

So we've been doing it for a while. Now, when we got to New
England, when I got to New England, they really had been doing it for a long
time; everybody writes that New England's just been doing it this
year.

New England has been doing this since Bill Belichick was the
head football coach there in some way, shape or form. I remember before I got
there, in 2006, they were playing the Indianapolis Colts, opened up with a no
huddle empty series, went right down the field. It was '06 before I got there.
These things have been going on.

It's really more a huddle on the ball. It's about
communication, understanding substitutions and it's really not that big of a
deal is what I'm trying to say. It's been going on for a long time.

Q. I'm just wondering about the relationship between
Gerald Hodges and Mike Mauti that you've noticed? Jordan Hill said after the
game, they'll sit there and compare statistics and whatnot. Do you think they
have a little bit of a rivalry with each other to see who can be the
best?

COACH O'BRIEN: I think they really enjoy playing with
each other. You can see that when each guy, just like all those guys on
defense...what I love about our defense is that they play extremely hard. It's
not always pretty. But they compete. They play extremely hard, which is the
number one thing in defensive football.

And then what I like is when they do make a
play, they are all around each other. They really are. And that's what you see
like with Gerald and Mike. Mike makes a play, Gerald is jumping on his back
celebrating with him. Same thing, Gerald makes a play, Michael is right there
with him. As far as comparing stats -- like I always say, stats are for you
know what.

This is about playing good defensive football
and doing the best you can to try to win the game.

Q. You said a couple of weeks ago that you were going to
make a decision on Nyeem Wartman at some point. Has he been able to do much at
practice and are you any close to making that decision?

COACH O'BRIEN: Yeah, he's practiced. He's going to be a
really, really good player for us; a young guy that can run. Big guy. Can
bend. Instinctive player. And so right now he's still eligible to play. If we
need him, he'll play.

Q. With a lot of players on both your team and Ohio
State's team having played under several different head coaches in the past few
years, what type of challenge does a program like this face and what's the main
thing you've done to stabilize that for this team?

COACH O'BRIEN: Well, these guys played for Coach Paterno and
then me. And then they played for Jim Tressel and Luke Fickell and Urban. I
gotcha.

I'm going to speak for Penn State. I don't know about Ohio
State. I just know that we came in here and had a program and this is the way
we wanted to do things. And we explained it to the players and tried to
communicate and be very honest with them, this is what we want to try to do.

We want to be great in the classroom and be as good as we can
on the field. And that's what we've just tried to do.

Q. Story came out last night in Honolulu paper that a team
from the east has contacted Norm Chow about playing at the end of this year. I
was wondering if that was you?

COACH O'BRIEN: At the end of this year? No, that's not Penn
State.

Q. Matt McGloin is definitely not a dual-threat
quarterback but--

COACH O'BRIEN: What are you talking about? Were you at the
Northwestern game? (Laughter).

Q. He's made some plays with his feet to avoid sacks and
make plays in the pocket, how important is that?

COACH O'BRIEN: Again, people use that label "dual threat",
and so I always use the example of Tom Brady. And so one of the best qualities
of Tom Brady is his feet in the pocket. And that he understands that it's about
a three-foot circle in the pocket that he can move in.

And he's got great pocket awareness. What we've tried to do
with Matt is teach him about pocket awareness. And Matt's done a good job of
that.

He's climbed the pocket when he's supposed to. He's moved
ever so slightly when he's supposed to. And the number one thing for a
quarterback is to be able to do that and keep your eyes downfield and complete
the ball and not see the rush.

You've got to feel the rush, not see it, move with your feet,
re-direct your eyes with your feet is the phrase we use and get the ball down
the field. And I think Matt's done a decent job of that, and hopefully he can
continue to do that.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about Donovan Smith and how
tough it is to play through this type of injury, and have you been around other
linemen in your career who have done this?

COACH O'BRIEN: Sure, yeah, there's been plenty of linemen
that I've been around personally that have played with a broken hand. It's not
easy, because it's harder to punch and get your hands inside and things like
that. But he's a really good, athletic, tough, big player, and I think he's
done a good job with that thing and hopefully that continues on Saturday
night.